Tiieodor puskas



T 'PUSKAS SUBMARINE BLASTING.

Patented Mar. 31,1891.

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l. JNITED STATES :ATENT OFFICE.

THEODOR PUSKAS, OF BUDA-PESTH, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

SUBMARINE BLASTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,272, dated March31, 1891. Application filed June 14, 1890. Serial No. 355,472. (Nomodel.)

To (0Z7 whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, THEODOR PUSKAS, a citizen of the Kingdom ofAustria-Hungary, and a resident of Buda-Pesth, Austria-Hungary, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Submarine Blastings; andI declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same.

The boring of shafts for blasting under water is attended withextraordinary difficulties and a very considerable expenditure of timeand money, while the effect of blasting without boring for shafts isvaried in its significance, because the effect goes on after everyoperation.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which forms apart of this.

specification.

The idea of the proceeding is this: that at the precise moment when thecartridge, after having been carefully directed on the object to beblasted, shall explode, a corresponding pressure shall be felt fromabove, which shall concentrate the effect of the explosion of thecartridge at the bottom of and then upon the object to be blasted.

To meet any peculiarities of the place, the cartridge A may beloweredupon the object to be blasted either from the shore or from a suitableboat in the usual manner-that is, from a reel. This cartridge isprotected by a bell-shaped or semi-spherical conical covering B, and isinsured against falling out by wires. The object of the covering, which,as

already mentioned, maybe shaped in a variety of ways, according to theobject to be blasted, and may, moreover, take the form of a simple disk,is by exerting a pressure from above (of which I shall speak presently)to attack the shell A more completely and also to transfer it to theobject to be blasted. Precisely on account of the object for which it isdesigned, this covering B must be made of sufficiently massive anddurable material, (of massive steel or iron, preferably,) and if thiscase is bell-shaped or conical it must be fastened to the horizontal orupward-bent rings 0, in order that it may exert the effect of the upwardpressure to better advantage. The case has in the middle of the top anopening whose wall is provided with a farreaching screw, and in thisopening is placed the case D of the cartridge, and in the case thecartridge E itself. After the cartridge is put in the case, with whichalready the electric wires F have been connected, a plate D is screwedupon the cover, the plate being provided with two holes in order thatthrough them may be passed the circuit-wires. The wire F after leavingthe covering-plate is directed to the spot where the blasting is to takeplace, which is sufficiently remote. The covering itself is in thedirection of the plumb-line Gr, connected with a cartridge H, whichcartridge stands at a correctly-calculated distance above the covering.The plumb-line falls immediately above this cartridge, and the end iswound on the reel.

The wires J, which conduct the electric current to the place ofoperation and which are connected to the cartridge H, run in the samedirection as the wires F and ropes G. The cartridge I I and the shell Aare isolated from each other.

The wires F and J both run to the place of operation together from theone source of current, through which source they both receive theelectric current at precisely the same moment and entirely independentof one another and conduct these currents, still independent of eachother, to the proper cartridges, causing the explosion of the same.

Vith a suitably-constructed apparatus the operation is such that thewire J receives the sparks so much sooner and causes the shell H toexplode, and the effect of this explosion is still going on when theshell A explodes. The interval is naturally very short; but theexplosion can be made simultaneous, this depending upon the quality ofthe explosive matter.

From the directions and descriptions already given it follows, as amatter of course, that a more powerful force is exerted by the explosionof the cartridge after every operation. Under the effect of thispressure the covering or disk B remains upright at the very moment whenthe cartridge A, immediatcly beneath it, explodes, so that through thesecombined forces the effect of the cartridge A is limited by the effectof cartridge H. It first concentrates its own effect from underneath theobject to be blasted, and hence the eifeet will be increased in awonderful measure.

It stands to reason that the strength of the cartridge II, its distancefrom the cartridge A, and the solidity of the covering B must be soadjusted that the covering 13 shall not be destroyed through theexplosion of the cartridge.

What I claim is- The combination, in a submarine-blasting system, withthe primary explosive having a superposed or surrounding covering, withflanges or rings 0, of a secondary explosive located above said primaryexplosive and connected with said covering, andindependently-controllable circuits to said primary and secondaryexplosives, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

'JI'IEO. PUSKAS.

Witnesses:

A.S. McCLAIN, FRANK WEsToN, Jr.

